Wacky Wabbit - Harvard 1/72

[CedB 33,550]

You may remember when I built the Rapide that @brianj1uk posted that he was the pilot in the video! Brian PM'd me and very kindly offered to show me around 'Classic Wings' when he was there. Brian was exceptionally kind and persevered with invites and, third time lucky, I made the trip at the end of October.

 

I've told this story before, but for new readers Brian met me at the Classic Wings cabin and I was privileged to do his pre-flight walk around with him. I must admit the Harvard has not been one of my favourite types but some of Brian's enthusiasm soon rubbed off - she's a sturdy bird but beautifully designed with some great features. Oh, and big. Sturdy girl. Here are a few of the shots I took of her and Brian:

 

 

 

Brian was very busy with paying customers but I was more than happy to wait around and soak up the atmosphere. Like the Harvard 'blarting' its way into the air. Joining the crowd around the Spitfire TR.9 (another one!) and seeing both flying around. I'd arranged to see Brian again for a sit in the Harvard and Rapide so went back to the hut. Brian took my coat and asked if I had any loose articles - just my trousers, but we agreed it would be better if I kept those on. Out to the T6, in the back and then... they strapped me in! Brian told me we were going for a quick flight - how excited was I? I'll bet you can imagine.

 

We taxyed to the holding point and went through the pre-flight checks. "I'm rushing a bit because the Spitfire's behind us" said Brian and off we went. The cross wind made it an interesting take off but soon we were in the air and climbing, fast. "I was hoping that the Spitfire would overtake us and we could have a look" said Brian, but she was still on the ground. Time for a bit of 'training' for me on effect of controls. She's very responsive but you can feel the inertia. Very nice. More Harvard love.

 

"There's the Spitfire" says Brian and, sure enough, she was at ten o'clock low, right to left (sorry Steve, missed my chance to 'Tally' again!). Brian waggled the wings, flung the Harvard on her side (I think that's probably the right word for it) and we went after her, approaching in a sweeping turn, high at her eight o'clock... well, probably more like half-past seven but you get the idea. I resisted the temptation to dagadagadaga, just. We pulled up alongside, pilots waving to each other, and flew in formation for a few minutes. As Brian said, "Only at Duxford". Then, as if on cue, the sun appeared and lit up the TR.9. What a sight. It will certainly be in my mind for some time.

 

We waved goodbye, peeled away to the left and headed to a suitable spot where Brian demonstrated the aerobatic abilities of the Harvard. Loops, barrel rolls, aileron rolls (I now know the difference) and half Cubans. Amazing. I now have 'Harvard love'. Thanks Brian, very, very much.

 

After a sit in the Rapide (gosh it's tight in there for us 'ample' chaps) I walked away in a daze. Part of me is still there, upside down over Cambridgeshire...

 

This thread is my attempt at modelling T6 Harvard Aviation's 'Wacky Wabbit' using a couple of kits I picked up at Telford.

Should be, gulp, fun.

[CedB 33,550]

A bit of research on the website above told me that "Although we are using a Harvard 4 as the base aircraft we changed the canopy to a Harvard II just for the added authenticity."

That meant I needed two kits:

 

 

so that I could use the Airfix canopy on the Heller. Are they that much different? Oh yes:

 

 

You can see (I hope) that the 2 canopy has a lot more frames and they can be seen clearly on the diagrams of the 2 and of the 4 from the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum. The 2 canopy is also higher, especially at the front. Does it fit the Heller kit? Almost:

 

Fits! by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

with just a little gap at the back:

 

 

Some of you may be thinking 'Aha! If you plunge mold the Airfix you could build both' but I'm not sure I'm up to that.

Vacform? I could buy one of those dental machines then eh? Maybe not, I think my wallet needs a rest after the cutter and printer purchases for the Boultbee.

Although I might be convinced if someone points me in the right direction... and holds my hand

 

Plenty of time for that though. The elephant in the room is, of course, those Wacky transfers. Fear not, they are done!

 

Scale an image to the same size as the model to get the transfer size right:

 

Image for scaling decals by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

Get hold of a photo I'd taken for this purpose:

 

 

Using GIMP crop the image, save it, copy to a new file, separate the wabbit and lettering, invert the wabbit, move and rotate the lettering and before you know it we have:

 

 

Sorry, I forgot rule #1 of custom decals images printed and scaled on decal paper to pretend they're decals is NO CLOSEUPS so here's the shot you need to see:

 

 

They'll be fine. Probably.

 

Off to do some crew selection which I think will be easier than the Boutlbee as Brian was in a helmet and I have a PJ Productions civil pilot or two left for mini-me II.

 

I'm hoping this will be a fairly painless build although some of you will have noticed the modified exhaust. I've been fretting about that...

[Stew Dapple 11,915]

First!

 

Yay, pick of the seats!

 

Cheers

 

Stew

[giemme 9,655]

Second!

 

What a story, Ced

 

Ciao

[amblypygid 1,194]

Nice, Ced. I'm saving up for a Harvard trip hopefully this year (Classic Wings have helped by offering a discount already)

[Beard 7,837]

Interesting, I'll follow (if I may).

 

Here's a video that I took last summer, at a farm/ airfield near me. Troy Smith and me had been watching it fly over my house bit had to get the train home before we went to the show, called 'Tractors, Tanks & Tiger Moths' (I had to be dissuaded from asking for my money back as there weren't any yanks or Tiger Moths.

 

Obviously, I'm happy to remove the video if you don't want it on your thread.

[perdu 13,246]

Well here's a fine how-de-do

....

Ced's already finished the transfer de jour and I havent even got to the bar...

.....

Oh well, there's vacforming to do, I'll be bound

......

Over here at the bar Ced

[giemme 9,655]

Task of this thread posse: talk Ced into vacforming? Sounds good!

 

Ciao

[The Spadgent 8,756]

Woot! I’m not last for once. Go on Ced, you can take the “plunge” first and show me ze way.  Wonderful back story and great start with the decals. 

 

I’m in.

 

John.

[06/24 4,219]

I fall asleep for ten minutes (well alright, three hours) and miss all the front seats. Nothing for it then but to join Perdu at the bar (sigh) somebody's got to do it. Mines a Dalwhinnie, no ice and I'll just sit quietly over there and shiver.

 

Serious head on, Ced, I believe Albion alloys interleaving tubes wil be your exhaust buddies. A micro tube cutter may save cursing, and assuage your tool fetish. I would say a soldering iron but it'd be overkill for this. Or stretched sprue of various widths, but as I've never yet managed to stretch a piece of sprue I would personally go for the tubes every time.

[perdu 13,246]

I always think we make the place look tidier here at the bar 06/24

 

I've not tried Dalwhinnie, not being by habit a whisky drinker but there is no way I could grow up failing to indulge, my dad being of the Scottish persuasion

 

We'll have one each

 

 

[bbudde 2,268]

Hello Ced. Not my favourite plane, but i'm in. Or more precisely  I never bothered about it in my past modellers life. Just noticed it existed, which is funny, because the Dauntless is somewhat similar in her appearance and much liked by me. Strange.

[Cookenbacher 8,119]

Great story Ced, ready to watch you build another of your rides.

[AdrianMF 5,287]

Oh, go on then...

[philp 888]

I am on the watch.

 

Here is the Texan I took my flight in.

 

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipP_ySaILvdaVromLQP20j31XtYadMgpRPCbori3/photo/AF1QipMzmynpc2bIcWqbVKSQ244jWsTj_0jPX96YfVW8

 

Guess the pic is too big to post.

Quote

 

 

 

[Tony Edmundson 382]

Since neither canopy is accurate for a Harvard, why not just use the Heller one anyway

 

Tony

[Biggles87 3,822]

Just managed to squeeze in at the back, bit of a crush in here.

So, formatting on a Spitfire in a Havard! I doubt I'll be able to match that unless SWMBO has another surprise for me.

 

John

 

 

[Tony Edmundson 382]

Aeroclub did make a proper Harvard canopy, but it be a devil to find one now(I have a couple) 

 

Tony

[Beard 7,837]

27 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

So, formatting on a Spitfire in a Havard! I doubt I'll be able to match that unless SWMBO has another surprise for me.

 

As long as the surprise isn't a gaggle of Bf-109s up-sun...

[John D.C. Masters 1,845]

I have the double-kit Harvard/Texan from Encore/Squadron that I have been eyeing recently.  I want to build the Israeli version first...is this turning into an unofficial GB?

[CedB 33,550]

Welcome Stew, Giorgio, Johnny, Benedikt, Cookie, Adrian and John - great to have you along

Crikey, nice crowd already!

 

10 hours ago, amblypygid said:

Nice, Ced. I'm saving up for a Harvard trip hopefully this year (Classic Wings have helped by offering a discount already)

Welcome Chris - I don't think you'll regret it. She may be a chunky bird but she's very agile. I hope you like aerobatics!

 

10 hours ago, Beard said:

Interesting, I'll follow (if I may).

 

Here's a video that I took last summer, at a farm/ airfield near me. Troy Smith and me had been watching it fly over my house bit had to get the train home before we went to the show, called 'Tractors, Tanks & Tiger Moths' (I had to be dissuaded from asking for my money back as there weren't any yanks or Tiger Moths.

 

Obviously, I'm happy to remove the video if you don't want it on your thread.

Welcome Simon - wouldn't be the same without you Nice video too; they are noisy aren't they?

 

10 hours ago, perdu said:

Well here's a fine how-de-do

....

Ced's already finished the transfer de jour and I havent even got to the bar...

.....

Oh well, there's vacforming to do, I'll be bound

......

Over here at the bar Ced

9 hours ago, giemme said:

Task of this thread posse: talk Ced into vacforming? Sounds good!

 

Ciao

Welcome Bill and Giorgio, nice to see you

I did look at the vacuum machines last night but, even after wine, decided that spending £100+ to save the cost of a cheap kit is probably a bit silly, even for me. I also don't have the DIY mojo to build one for the vacuum cleaner so, especially with Tony's comments below, I think I'll give the plunging a miss - sorry!

 

8 hours ago, 06/24 said:

I fall asleep for ten minutes (well alright, three hours) and miss all the front seats. Nothing for it then but to join Perdu at the bar (sigh) somebody's got to do it. Mines a Dalwhinnie, no ice and I'll just sit quietly over there and shiver.

 

Serious head on, Ced, I believe Albion alloys interleaving tubes wil be your exhaust buddies. A micro tube cutter may save cursing, and assuage your tool fetish. I would say a soldering iron but it'd be overkill for this. Or stretched sprue of various widths, but as I've never yet managed to stretch a piece of sprue I would personally go for the tubes every time.

Welcome Jon - now that's a good idea... I shall investigate! Thanks mate

 

5 hours ago, philp said:

I am on the watch.

 

Here is the Texan I took my flight in.

 

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipP_ySaILvdaVromLQP20j31XtYadMgpRPCbori3/photo/AF1QipMzmynpc2bIcWqbVKSQ244jWsTj_0jPX96YfVW8

 

Guess the pic is too big to post.

Welcome Phil - can't see the picture using that link (error 404 here). If it's in a Google search results page try clicking the 'view image' button and use the address of that?

 

5 hours ago, Tony Edmundson said:

Since neither canopy is accurate for a Harvard, why not just use the Heller one anyway

 

Tony

58 minutes ago, Tony Edmundson said:

Aeroclub did make a proper Harvard canopy, but it be a devil to find one now(I have a couple) 

 

Tony

Welcome Tony and thanks for the info. I'll have a look at the canopies in more detail against the references. A quick look this morning shows that I might just be able to add some frames to the Texan 6 one and get away with it. I won't be entering the model in any competitions so it's the memory that's important, not the accuracy!

 

2 minutes ago, John D.C. Masters said:

I have the double-kit Harvard/Texan from Encore/Squadron that I have been eyeing recently.  I want to build the Israeli version first...is this turning into an unofficial GB?

Welcome John - as long as there's no end date, the more builds the better

[giemme 9,655]

2 minutes ago, CedB said:

I did look at the vacuum machines last night but, even after wine, decided that spending £100+ to save the cost of a cheap kit is probably a bit silly, even for me. I also don't have the DIY mojo to build one for the vacuum cleaner so, especially with Tony's comments below, I think I'll give the plunging a miss - sorry!

That's going to be fun anyway   Looking forward for progress  

 

Ciao

[Beard 7,837]

27 minutes ago, CedB said:

[...] they are noisy aren't they?

The damn thing flew over my house about a hundred times that day. Sadly, this didn't:

 

(Apologies for the thread drift.)

[CedB 33,550]

Thanks Giorgio - you know what I'm like with tools so the idea isn't totally forgotten...

 

Thanks Simon - no need to apologise for thread drifts, they're part of the fun! Great shot of the Mustang (I think?)

 

@06/24 - Jon, thanks for the pointer to ModelU over in the Boultbee thread. I've looked them up and it's interesting... £25 for the scan and £3 for figures? Sounds like a good idea to me - you know how keen I am on crewing my models and being able to get a 'right sized' decent pilot figure... I have emailed them and they're in Bristol on the 28th. More later!

[giemme 9,655]

9 minutes ago, CedB said:

Great shot of the Mustang (I think?)

Looks like a Yak 3 to me ...

 

Ciao